


Shadows on the Pavement (Left Long After The Blast)

by WilhelmAres



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Blanc - Freeform, End of the World, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WilhelmAres/pseuds/WilhelmAres
Summary: A flash of light, and then nothing. But before this nothing, there was. How do people live their last moments not knowing they're their last?
Relationships: Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois & Sabrina Raincomprix, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Comments: 12
Kudos: 59





	Shadows on the Pavement (Left Long After The Blast)

To nearly everyone on Earth, on any planet in the universe, today was a day like any other. Sure, some would have exceptional days, losing or gaining their dream jobs, births or deaths, good fortunes and horrible tragedy. _But_ , on a fundamental level, all these things are just the margins of a functioning web of interconnectivity. Nobody predicted all life in all corners of reality to simple cease at once.

* * *

Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe spend their last moments on Pont des Arts, eating Andre's Magical Ice Cream (well, the colored vanilla version. Customer complaints on weird and unrequested flavors made him change it). Alya pulls a combo lock from her bag and hands it to Nino.

"Our anniversary date, babe" She says. He dials 8-1-0, opens it, and slides it onto the bridge.

"Let's close it together." Alya wants to say no, but doesn't. It's a cheap lock, an impulse decision, and it doesn't latch the first couple times it's closed, but it latches eventually. They simply stand there, listening to the world around them. The river below them moves, the crowd around them moves, time moves, but this _moment?_ This moment is as still as they are, only to move with them. And the two know if they let this moment by, they will only ever get an echo, a shadow, a parody of it again.

They hope they'll be satisfied with that. "I love you" one says. "I love you, too" the other replies, as though this isn't the first time they've crossed that boundary. As if it's important who first crossed the boundary. In that stillness, they notice their phone going off. They don't care, not for the moment. They notice the akuma alert blaring throughout Paris, but they don't respond. They know Ladybug can handle it.

And with that love in their hearts, they share their first and last kiss, bathed in bright light.

* * *

Chloé Bourgeois and Sabrina Raincomprix have a complicated relationship. Complicated in the simple way, meaning abusive, but too young for many to accept it as such. It was a day that occurred somewhat regularly, where Sabrina stands up for herself and Chloé tries to bribe her back to heel. It was also a day that never happened before, where she doesn't respond to a nice hat, or a nice dress, or even the threat that Queen B will not protect her anymore. Chloé was shouting at her to leave then pointing to the suite from the balcony, when Sabrina pointed out at the Eiffel Tower, where a bright light was.

"Akuma attack, Queen B. Wait, you're not Queen B, you're Chloé."

"Well, at least I'm not a friendless know-it-all with only one parent!"

Rarely does Chloé regret her words. Sabrina's look of hurt ensured this is one of those times. "Wait, I'm--!" and a flash.

And with that hurt and betrayal, the words can never be taken back.

* * *

Over time, occasionally "I have no-one else" turns softly into "I don't want anyone else". A socially anxious goth and an extremely outgoing prep don't really seem like a match. But when you two are the only openly queer students for a few years, you start to spend some time together. The social anxiety is keeping a beautiful model down. A pretty princess aesthetic doesn't mean she doesn't like metal. Although opposites don't attract, occasionally you learn you aren't opposites. And with that Rose Lavillant and Juleka Couffaine sit on the deck of Juleka's home.

"... she's my Parisian Princess" Rose sings softly, trying for lyrics to a new song.

"And you're my Rosebush, thorns and all" Juleka whispers lovingly.

"How do you know I wasn't talking about Alix, huh?" the little flower asks with a laugh in her voice.

"Because you call her that and I won't protect you when she tries to spray paint you."

Rose gets up and walks into the ship, looking for a camera. "Hey Jules! Maybe we can practice modeling!" Juleka doesn't like shouting, but she feels comfortable with Rose taking pictures. She comes back in under two minutes, holding a digital camera. They pretend to model together for an hour, not taking it seriously at all, just being the best friends they need to be to be good girlfriends. That camera is one of the few records of the last few minutes.

* * *

Lila Rossi infuriated her mother and disappointed her grandparents. Her father did not care. She was always going to go home for the summer, back to the Italian countryside with her grandparents. Then Mr. Damocles made contact and her lies and truancy got exposed. She was enrolled in a local summer school course and grounded the whole summer. School, chores, family time. School, chores, family time. School, chores, family time. No deal with Gabriel to sustain, no fight with Marinette or Ladybug to conceal, no lies to keep straight because there was nobody she could to lie to. Her family didn't trust her, her teachers didn't trust her, and her classmates didn't care about her.

So it was on one particularly hot day she found herself sitting in an un-air-conditioned classroom, doing basic geometry with a teacher that made Mrs. Mendeleev look like Mrs. Bustier. She found herself miserable, until she didn't find herself at all.

* * *

Adrien Agreste sits on a rooftop, overlooking ruins of his own making-- _his father's own making, he had no control--_ and waits for Marinette to set thing right. He feels he must have waited an hour, but his phone says not even a second has passed. He doubts his phone. He calls out.

"Plagg!" He calls out and never expected an answer. He knows no gods live in this place. He knows Marinette is setting thing right, not repairing things. She's setting things right and he is _wrong._ He knows Plagg isn't here because destruction isn't this place's fate. He never though destruction would be the more comforting option. With destruction there is a before and after. There is a before.

With uncreation, with the severing of the past, there isn't. There isn't a 'before' and 'after', there's 'is' and 'isn't' and Adrien never wanted to be 'isn't'. He never thought it possible to be isn't.

"Little kitty on a roof, all alone without his lady. In saving every one she can't save me. Little kitty on a roof, all alone in the end. His lady stopped it before the beginning."


End file.
